The Road Out Blog

Caleb was a young teen living in an affluent area of a major California city. Although he is quite young, Caleb has shown himself to have remarkable talent in acting and singing, has starred in middle and high school plays and even a few television commercials.

I first heard of this young man from his aunt who attended a parent seminar I gave at a high school in another part of town. The aunt told of her increasing worries over drugs and alcohol abuse among the crowd with which Caleb (Not his real name) was hanging. She said that although he was talented and quite handsome, his judgment was poor and he had more courage than sense. She gave me the family’s name and numbers and I tried to reach the family but got no response.

Wow. That is a tall order. In 600 words or less. 

I know that most of the people coming to this article are expecting BS, and the rest are either naïve or grabbing at straws. How can someone actually address such a subject in a just few words, or in a few pages, for that matter. 

Let’s see what is needed here:

Putting off an intervention and detox rehab on a drug addicted friend or family member is the biggest unkindness of all. To let the addict continue to worsen and become more addicted does more damage than could possibly result from a failed intervention. 

Allowing drug abuse to continue as before, with the drug abuser digging a deeper and deeper hole to hide in; watching this process without arranging an intervention or taking ANY action, only gives more power to the drug and more permanent damage to the addict.

If you are asking yourself this question, consider it a good sign. If you are addicted, it means you’ve come to the point of looking at your habits and behavior with a critical eye. Believe it or not, that is a big step and is the first requirement for recovery from addiction.

Factors which MUST be addressed when overcoming addiction:

1. First and foremost, drug use must cease.

This seems so obvious that it need not be mentioned. This might require medical help during the initial withdrawal, but usually can be accomplished comfortably and without using dangerous drugs.

2. Poisonous drug and drug residues must be removed from the body.

This is called detox. But the word detox has wrongly come to mean just staying off drugs for a short period. That does not did the body of all the toxins built up over years of drug abuse. Never settle for anything less that complete cleansing of the body.